Workers have 45 days to decide whether to take a buyout or retire. Although officials with UAW Local 2093 say that 300 to 350 could leave, they also point out it's hard to predict by how much their membership will decrease.

"Some (workers) are still very upset about the contract; upset about the negotiation process," said Kevin Bushouse, an executive board member with the Three Rivers local union. "So it's really tough right now" to know how many will be gone by mid-July.

"The best way I can say it is it's like a totally different place to work," he said of the factory on Hoffman Street that about 65 percent of the work force returned to on Tuesday. About 300 workers, mostly on third shift, have been temporarily laid off as the plant ramps up production.

When line workers returned to their posts this week, Bushouse said, they found both the physical space and the atmosphere had changed. Personal effects, including radios and work boots, were discarded during the three-month strike. And management, he said, is implementing strict rules.

"I think they know they have the upper hand," he said.

The Kalamazoo Gazette had planned to meet with Local President Erv Heidbrink and Bargaining Chairman David Morris on Thursday afternoon, but they and other union officials were in closed-door meetings with American Axle management.

Bushouse said he couldn't talk about the details under discussion Thursday, but he said they related to the changed atmosphere and how American Axle was interpreting some of the contract language.

"Some of these things are normal when you have a new contract," he said. "Both sides read the (contract) language in way that's beneficial to them."